Making Law-Abiding Citizens Feel Like Fools

What else should law-abiding Philadelphians think after their mediocre, pandering city council passed a bill extending amnesty to people with unpaid parking tickets?

That’s certainly what The Curmudgeonly Sister had in mind when she emailed her brother twice, and then called him, to bring this matter to his attention.

A curmudgeonly chip off the old block, she is.

Under the program, people who have unpaid parking tickets dating back to before 2013 will have those tickets forgiven if they pay for all tickets they’ve earned since the beginning of 2013.

And they don’t even have to pay their tickets all at once to be forgiven, either: they can sign up for a payment plan to pay them off over time.

No one’s saying what happens if you enroll in the program, have your tickets forgiven, and then don’t pay.

Not paying for parking tickets is apparently a major thing in Philadelphia; in fact, it looks as if paying may be the exception rather than the rule. According to local authorities, the city is holding nearly $600 million in unpaid parking tickets.

That’s a LOT of money and a LOT of dishonest people.

Philadelphia’s mayor never signed the bill for the amnesty program. Oh, he opposed it, all right, saying it was unfair to people who pay their tickets, but did he veto it? Of course not: before showing the courage of his convictions he’d first have to develop some convictions.

This program amounts to really bad governing: if people can afford cars, can afford insurance, and can afford gasoline, they can afford to pay their parking tickets. Also, there’s a really, really easy way to deal with parking ticket problems: ABIDE BY THE FREAKING PARKING LAWS IN THE FIRST PLACE!

And law-abiding Philadelphians who get parking tickets and, because it’s the kind of thing some people do when they do something wrong, pay those tickets?

Your government is playing you for a fool and a sucker so it can curry the favor of people who couldn’t be bothered either following the law or doing the right thing when they break it.